Wednesday, March 16, 2011

Apologies for the quality (or lack thereof) of today's photos, rainy days defeat my camera and I every time.

I'm pattern-testing this week, which is really kind of exciting. The above---which currently looks like a lovely and current-weather-appropriate raindrop sculpture---is going to be a rainbow rocketship, designed by Unforth and viewable as a finished product in a less ridiculous colour scheme over at her blog.

Next, it gets its fantastic fins. :)

I'm not always the most diligent direction-follower, I tend to take patterns as a suggestion and resize or change elements around or, uh, not pay terribly close attention to my exact stitch count as long as it looks okay... So it's an interesting experience for me to be reading the pattern closely, following it more carefully, and considering how it might read/work to someone with less crocheting experience. (This pattern is awesome so far, well-written and easy to follow and I love the way the shaping worked up. It's both elegant and weirdly cuddly at the same time, somehow.)

The aerial view, just for fun.

﻿And my currently on hold for pressing rocketship business project, this fish-and-sushi toy, which gets sewn together so that the fish can be tucked into the sushi roll or the sushi roll tucked into the fish. (I got impatient with wondering if this process would actually work or not and gave it a test baste-together the other night and it was a success! It wasn't easy to flip it back and forth, but it did work. So now the fish just needs his fins and stuff and then it can be sewn together for real, after which point I may try to auction it off for earthquake/tsunami relief for Japan.)

Friday, March 11, 2011

It was terrible to wake up to the news about the earthquake and tsunamis in Japan this morning. I've poked around Etsy and Ravelry for relief stuff, but there's not much popping up just yet---if any of you hear of crafty relief efforts, please let me know. I'm itchy to do something to help.

The Failing Potions fingerless gloves---they may not look finished, but they're as finished as they're going to get, for a while. I'm not sure about the finger-pieces yet. I tried them in several different yarns to try and get them less bulky, but I'm still not quite happy with them. (...But I also don't really want to buy any new, lighter-weight yarn for this, so.)

So they're going to remain asymmetrical for the time being, while I decide what to do---this way, my left (and non-dominant) hand will be warmer, but my right hand will have less bulk, to make chopping slugs (or garlic and ginger) and grinding beetles (or cumin) easier. I really do need to reread the Harry Potter books soon.

One thing I love about Swap-Bot is that it gets me to make stuff I'd never make otherwise. Like tentacow.

A distant relative of the tentacat in my blogger avatar, tentacow was created for a swap for which you send your partner a ridiculous item. My partner collects plushie cows, thus, tentacow. I'd never considered making an amigurumi cow before, so I did a quick google search to get an idea of what shapes were involved.

Here's the side and back view. Tentacow is about...3.5 inches tall, maybe? He sits in my palm perfectly. It's going to be hard to box him up and send him off to his new home. (I think my next tentacle-thing will be an owl. I'm not sure whether it should have both wings and tentacles, or just be---like tentacat and -cow---an owl head attached to some tentacles.)

This was made for a tiny-item bunny-themed swap. I've never tried a bunting before, and this one doesn't exactly work right, because cheap felt doesn't have enough weight for the flags to hang correctly. (This is photographed laid flat on a horizontal surface.) It was fun to make, though, especially the bitty bunnies, who are about an inch long and made from this super-simple pattern. I want to make a whole army of them, but I'm going to try not to unless I get some kind of amazing idea to utilize said bunny-army.

Friday, March 4, 2011

﻿When I first got into amigurumi a couple years ago, I was drawn to this skeletal fish pattern in Elisabeth Doherty's Amigurumi! book, but I wasn't quite ready to follow said pattern yet. I rediscovered this book in the library a couple weeks ago and decided it was time to make a dead fish.

Part of the reason I liked this pattern so much was how elegant the tail looks, with all of its almost-floral swirls. Funny thing about my undertaking this project? I hate fish. Alive, dead, in a tank, on a plate...not a fan. I was once at a deserted marina at night, and while the overall horror movie setting of it didn't give me a moment's pause, I screamed like a little girl when I almost stepped on a fish carcass. Gross.

The other element of this pattern that I loved (and that I love ten times more having actually made it) was the shape of the skeleton. I decided to do mine in wool and felt it, and I love the effect. Here it is before and after felting.

This was my first time felting Fisherman's Wool (I bought a skein with the vague intentions of dyeing it at some point), and it felted wonderfully. I'm already planning some other projects with it.

Meet Zombie Panda, who will be heading out to someone on Swap-Botwho likes both zombies and pandas. He's only about...three inches or so tall, so he was a super-quick little project, and so much fun to make. I stitched on his face/random gore spots while watching a random rerun of Ghost Whisperer, which seemed nicely appropriate.﻿

Here, Zombie Panda can be seen stalking his prey, Can of Bamboo Shoots.

And here, he has felled it and approaches to feed! Good hunting, Zombie Panda!